Area of the Art
The present invention relates to bodysuits for use as personal protective equipment and methods for the removal of such body suits.
Description of the Background Art
Health Care Workers (HCWs) on the front lines of the Ebola epidemic are particularly vulnerable to infection, despite the availability of various types of personal protective equipment (PPE). Effective PPE is essential to any successful disease control strategy.
Healthcare workers treating highly infectious diseases must wear a complete ensemble of personal protective equipment (PPE) to protect themselves from a range of potential contaminates that carry the infectious particle: bodily fluids, droplets, aerosols, mists, gases, or vapors. The ensemble must protect HCW during use and during doffing, or removal, without contaminating the user. The current PPE used by HCW when treating highly infectious diseases such as Lassa Fever or Ebola are pieced together using components designed for other applications. A common ensemble for HCW treating Ebola consists of a fluid resistant mask, goggles, a hood with open face area, coverall, two pairs of gloves, and rubber boots. Often, the goggles are replaced with a face shield, although this reduces the level of protection. The goggles and coverall are designed for chemical applications, and the fluid resistant mask is designed for surgery. None of the elements are designed to protect HCW from highly infectious diseases during use and during removal, resulting in a high risk of infection associated with their use.
In the fight against Ebola, Lassa Fever, and countless other medical or industrial applications, PPE is required that protects the user from exposure while meeting many use case requirements (lower heat burden, full range of motion, complete visibility, easy and safe removal). Here, features that can be integrated into PPE for improving PPE function and increasing user safety are described. These features can be combined in many configurations and may be applied to the hood, coveralls or any other portion of a PPE ensemble. Example embodiments are provided as examples below.